Computers to the Rescue

filed under Crossover · 7 comments in the original

I always like to start out the New Year by looking at the many different statistics and lists that are generated at the end of the year.

One of the most interesting ones I try to find is the listings of murders that are committed in the nation. I came across a summary of this over at CNN that had the information I was looking for.

So the top 3 cities for 2003 are:

City	Murders	Population	Percent
Chicago	599	2,896,016	0.0002
New York	596	8,008,278	0.00007
Los Angeles	<500	3,694,820	0.0001

It's interesting to see that, at least, as a whole, things seem to be on the way down. What particularly struck me to comment on this was a line in the article:

Chicago's new police superintendent, Philip J. Cline, joined colleagues elsewhere in blaming homicides largely on a volatile mix of gangs, guns and drugs.

But officials pointed to a new system established in June, partly inspired by New York's computerized crime analysis unit, that contributed to an 18 percent drop in Chicago murders in the second half of 2003 compared with a year earlier.

Source: CNN

I guess it just shows that despite some of the new challenges technology has brought us in terms of defending ourselves and our nation, it's also working to make things better.